About the project

The “We the People PSA Project” is a national media, academic, and civic partnership that teaches people to become better consumers of news and information through short, creative Public Service Announcements (PSAs).

The Trust Project (“News with Integrity”) and University of Washington DataLab are currently leading the PSA project, in collaboration with a national partner network that includes RTDNA, the world’s largest professional organization devoted exclusively to broadcast and digital journalism.

In 2018, Hive Media Lab incubated the project in Seattle and produced two versions of PSA #1, as below. The lab remains an active partner in this project that is managed by Program Director Pamela Kilborn-Miller. You’re welcome to contact us.

Results

The following pilot PSA, created for the campaign describes one way in which fake news that is created to earn money can have unintended political consequences. It ends by encouraging the viewer to “#deletefakenews.”

A director’s cut of the pilot PSA was produced for distribution online and in social media:

Greg Cohen, Cascade Public Media Design Director allows us a peek behind the scenes while he masterminds the story board for the We the People PSA Project, 3/1/18.In the creative process, final versions of the story board and script are created prior to the pieces above, with sometimes significant editorial and creative changes at and between stages. There are, for example differences in the call to action between the earlier, director’s cut and the later, shorter version edited for broadcast television. The final draft of our script for the proof of concept PSA exhibits some key differences as does the final draft of the story board for the proof of concept PSA.

Leadership

Pamela Kilborn-Miller, Brian Glanz, and Jevin West at the UW DataLab, 12/1/17.
We the People PSA Project leadership has included:

This project was incubated by Hive Media Lab, whose mission is to democratize innovation in media. The lab is a part of Cascade Public Media, home of PBS member station KCTS 9 and digital media outlet Crosscut.com.